Upper Ferry Bridge, Fairmount, Philadelphia, William Penn Emblem, circa 1850

This is an original antique steel engraving, uncolored, lettered below the view "UPPER FERRY BRIDGE, AND FAIR MOUNT WATER WORKS, PHILADELPHIA." A long, low covered bridge on a single shallow arch spans the river from a stone abutment at left, crowned by a small pavilion, to the far bank at right. Beyond the bridge stand the low buildings of the water works and a larger pale building among trees, with a wooded hill at the right. Rowboats and a small sailboat move on the calm water, and in the left foreground two anglers fish from a grassy bank, a pail beside them.

The emblem above the view shows a medallion portrait lettered "WILLIAM PENN" over a scroll lettered "PENNSYLVANIA", with a cornucopia of fruit, an axe, books, an inkwell, dividers and a scroll. Two uncaptioned vignettes sit in the upper side borders: at left a Native American man with a gun points the way for a settler with a cane; at right Native American men, one with a bow, face a young woman in a fringed dress. Below at left, a vignette lettered "THE RETREAT FROM BRANDYWINE." shows an officer on horseback turning among retreating soldiers beside a covered wagon. At right, "CORNWALLIS ENTERING PHILADELPHIA." shows a mounted officer greeted by a bowing man in a street lined with soldiers, a small dog in front. No artist or engraver credit is lettered under the view. The imprint at the foot reads "J. & F. TALLIS, LONDON, EDINBURGH & DUBLIN."

It was issued in Hinton's History of the United States of America, edited by John Howard Hinton (1791 to 1873), the English Baptist minister and author, and published by J. and F. Tallis about 1850. The Tallis firm, London publishers of illustrated works sold in parts around the middle of the nineteenth century, set each central steel engraved view of this edition inside an engraved ornamental border carrying small lettered vignettes of episodes from American history.

This is an original antique print, not a modern reproduction. This item is sold unframed.